Harden-less Rockets rip Clippers for 40th win of season

Share this:

Rockets shooting guard Francisco Garcia gets a high five from James Harden during the first half of Saturday's win. Harden sat out the game with soreness in his right foot. (Smiley N. Pool/Chronicle)

The Rockets didn’t have James Harden, but had one last chance to make things right. Beating the short-handed Magic would not be enough.

The Rockets had begun the week considering a test of their readiness for the postseason, along with a pretty good way to get there. They beat the Spurs to consider that project off to a good start, but when they were knocked around by the Pacers and Grizzlies, they were left with one last chance to pass the playoff audition.

That they would have to face the Clippers, who handled them easily in their previous meetings, without Harden would not matter. They would move James Anderson in for Harden, tweak the starting lineup to put Greg Smith on Blake Griffin and then crank up for their often missing defense until they pulled away in the second half, 98-81, Saturday at Toyota Center.

Smith and Omer Asik kept Griffin under control, holding him to 12 points and three rebounds before he sat out the entire fourth quarter. Chris Paul had 19 points and seven assists, but he made just 3 of 8 shots with just two assists in the second half. The Clippers, playing their fourth game in five nights, made just 39.7 percent of their shots, scoring fewer points than in any game since Feb. 1.

Chandler Parsons, Jeremy Lin and Francisco Garcia each had 15 points for the Rockets, with Omer Asik scoring 13 points with 12 rebounds. But more than anything, the Rockets shut down the Clippers in the second half to win easily.

The Rockets starting lineup changes – with Anderson starting for Harden and Greg Smith replacing Donatas Motiejunas as the starting power forward – did not have as much impact as the player that moved up a spot with Harden out.

Garcia had lost his place in the rotation a week earlier and when McHale expanded the rotation again, he added Anderson. But with Anderson starting, Garcia began the second quarter and lit it up. After leading through most of the first quarter and by as much as eight, the Clippers led by one when the Rockets reserves missed their first seven shot of the second quarter.

Garcia, however, hit a pair of free throws and a 3-pointer and then took off. He scored 13 points in the quarter.

That got the Rockets in the lead and the Rockets got the same energy from their make-shift lineup as they had from the bench the night before. With that, the week that was to be their toughest began with one of their best wins and ended with one of their most stunning.